Dear Sharanjeet Shan

I write this email with heart full of thanksgiving because of the opportunity Maths Centre has given me through one of their programmes, and has been a driving force towards my success.

In 2016 I was one of the participants at Maths Centre to do an entrepreneurship programme. The programme was really meant for me because I was in a phase of starting and growing my own business, however I just never had the appropriate structure and knowledge for it. I had the resources to start the business but the proper structure such as, financial structure, legal procedures, marketing strategy, communication tool and more, were not something I was familiar with.

I did the programme with so much commitment and I implemented it in my business, through one on one few sessions and easy reach out to the facilitators I found it so much easier to get answers to questions that I never understood, not only answers but suggestions and a driving force because of the checkups and planning’s the facilitators help me with. By the time I finished the programme my business had improved from just a thought, a part time extra money maker and hobby into an actual business, I got it registered and started setting objectives, by the last day of the programme I managed to have a proper financial structure on my business which that helped very much with analysing the success of my business, if it was a growth or a down fall, I had an administrative structure, and my business had grown to the level where I needed help in the business so had to employ extra staff.

Through the programme I learned how to network through communication and how to interact with people, through the activities we did such as selling a product amongst us, that’s when I saw that anything I thought I was incapable of  I actually am capable of doing. Through the activity where we had to sell a product, at first I thought it was impossible because it was like we are each other’s competition and I used to think you cannot sell to your competition, but after engaging in the activity I realised you can actually sell to your competition and that for me broke the barriers and the fear of competition. today I find competition very interesting and as a task and something to learn from daily.

The marketing strategy that I learned from the programme was that any platform you have use it to your advantage, and during the process of the programme I used the platforms I had to my advantage and that’s when I began receiving more clients and having the privilege of working with different companies such as SA music Magazine, Soweto Beer Festival and many more clients.

I learned about social entrepreneurship and as of 2016 being social relevant through the objectives I have set for my growing business, which is to have a platform where I can expose learners from schools to camera operating and start a photography mentorship programme, my second social relevant goal is to put Soweto on the map through photography where I have started a Soweto Photographers organization which it still at a start up phase where I would like to bring together all the photographers in Soweto and turn Soweto into an art place where everything inside Soweto matters by exposing it through art of pictures.

Before I participated in the programme I never knew there were programmes that can assist you with entrepreneurship, since the programme opened that door I felt I still need more assistance and more mentorship, that is when I applied for a entrepreneurship programme I saw at Bankseta using the reference of the Maths Centre. I am proudly a maths centre kid who has received a bursary from Bankseta to study entrepreneurship course under Cape Penintsula University of Technology.

My business is growing well and healthier to different levels which by April I will be launching ADB Obscura Media which will have its own YouTube channel aiming to have a TV channel.

Therefore I would like to thank the programme offered by Maths Centre and Trencon Centre, by their time to lay the foundation for me and teach me the importance of a SME and how I can make the difference in my community. I feel confident now to make certain decisions because I have knowledge and understanding. What I love the most is that the textbook I was offered they are very easy to use and every day I read them for more education and what makes it even more better is that a facilitator is just a phone call away if I need clarification and understanding.

Thank you for the opportunity hope the programme also helps other upcoming entrepreneurs and I would gladly participate as a testimony of how the programme contributed to my business growth. Hope the programme continues for the year 2017 because I believe I need some assistance since the business is growing and now am growing into another phase of business.

Yours Sincerely

Angela Buthelezi